We rise to a bit of rain in the air. We all meet for
breakfast at the Farm Girl on nearby Portobello Road. We decide it is a good
day for us to go our separate ways. Amy and I head to Abbey Road.
This is a pop culture shrine. Ten or 15 people are here
from all over Europe & North America. Even some fans from other parts of
the world. The album and the band are truly beloved by so many. Fans are lined
up to recreate the famous album cover picture. Traffic is clogged on this
otherwise innocuous road.
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| Tourists Recreating the Album Cover Photo |
We depart the area, heading back to the St. John’s
Wood Underground Station. We head to Covent Garden, where we will do London’s
City Walks 7 & 8. Lots of really interesting shops. The area is quite a mix
of new and old shops all in very old buildings. There is some replacement of
these buildings happening, but generally, it seems that they are left as is
with new stores and living spaces being built in place. One of my favorite
stores that we visit is Stanford’s, a
travel map and book store.
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| Back Door of Stanford's Travel Store |
Well into the second walk, we visit Rosso Pomodoro for Lunch: Amy has a
Pizza, I have the Arrabiatta. Delicious.
We finish the walk and head back to the
flat in Notting Hill for a rest. We then head out to Arsenal for a Europa
League Match against Vorslava (a Ukrainian club) at the Emirates.
We meet the rest of the family
at the Tollington Arms pub, a couple of hundred meters up the road from the stadium. We have
pints and Thai food, which is a specialty of this pub. We watch the
Chelsea Europa match, and I get shushed by my family when Chelsea score and I
cheer. (Something good for Chelsea is bad for Arsenal, apparently. I should NOT
show my preferences this close the Arsenal Sacred Grounds.)
First Europa Match over, we head to the
stadium. It’s a pain to get in, as our bags need to be scanned and there is not
enough capacity. We finally get inside after a 20-minute delay, and wow: this is
quite a Stadium!
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| Arsenal Threatening |
The football is good, with Arsenal
dominating. They score four goals before Vorslava find the net. One
interesting, but slightly tense moment in the second half: we notice several
stewards gathering around some fans seated 7 or 8 rows in front of us, but
about 6 or so seats to our left. Something unhappy is going on as one of the
Stewards is talking earnestly with one of the fans. Suddenly, another fan
starts swinging his fists at several of his neighbors. Clearly, there was some
unhappy conversation happening. Several fans are escorted by stewards and
police out of the viewing area. Fans near us start to yell at the offenders,
telling them that if that how is they behave, they should never come to an
Arsenal match, no matter how much they like the team (the language was a little
fruitier, but that was the gist). Things calm down and no further incidents
occur. We never learned anything more about this situation. Probably just as
well.
Arsenal plays exciting football, but have
a couple of lapses. The match ends 4 – 2, but it wasn’t that close. We join the
crowd to exit and march through Arsenal Station to take the underground home.
Another wonderful day complete!
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